Changes in disposable income of Polish households and growing trends in alcohol mortality

Most of the studies investigate impact of affordability at national or regional levels with less attention being paid on changes in affordability and their impact on different socio-economic groups.

The aim of this article is better understanding of variations in alcohol male mortality in different socio-economic groups by a careful examination of changes in disposable income and alcohol affordability in households of different education levels.

Data (2004-2018) on disposable income per household member were taken from a survey - Statistics Poland. Mortality data were taken from the national death register of Statistics Poland based on death certificates. Linear regression models were used to establish relationship between income, affordability and mortality.

In the study period, disposable incomes increased substantially in the households with primary, vocational, and secondary education. In the households with university education, where incomes were much higher their pace of growth was much lower. Parallel, proportional alcohol male mortality increased substantially in three lower educational groups while remained almost stable among men with university education, in particular in the last ten years under the study. Clear, linear relationship was found within primary, vocational, and secondary education between proportional alcohol mortality and disposable income. Even, after inclusion into the model alcohol affordability, crucial role of changes in disposable income was confirmed as it explained much higher variation in mortality than affordability. No association was identified within households with university education.

The results of this study do not entirely confirm the relationship between alcohol affordability and mortality due to alcohol consumption in men as noted in the literature. Substantial and rapid increases in disposable income were shown as having much stronger impact. Policies which aim to reduce income disparities may produce negative unintended side-effects such as higher alcohol mortality among beneficiaries of these policies.